The good: Portland takes care of business and moves up in the standings, for now. The bad: Portland surrenders nearly 50-percent shooting and allows the Clippers to cut a big lead down to single digits late, preventing the starters from getting early rest.

Portland (48-30) has identical records with Oklahoma City and San Antonio for the bottom three playoff spots in the West. The Blazers own a tie-breaker over the Spurs and can earn a tie-breaker over Oklahoma City if they beat the Thunder on Monday at the Rose Garden.

Three of the Blazers’ final four games are against playoff teams — home games against Dallas and Oklahoma City and a game at the Lakers. The Blazers finish the regular season Wednesday at home against Golden State (24-54).

If their play since mid-January has been any indication, the Blazers can chalk up the Golden State game as a win. The Blazers are 27-7 this season against teams with losing records and haven’t lost to a sub-.500 team since Jan. 18 at Washington.

Last season the Blazers learned who their first-round opponent would be on the final night of the regular season. Don’t be shocked to see this same thing happen again. We can sit and predict, and try and prepare for who it will be, but all the Blazers can do is take care of their business the rest of the way.

That starts with Dallas on Friday, when Portland will go for the season-series sweep. With a win, it’ll be the first time in franchise history the Blazers will have swept the Spurs and Mavericks in the same season.

Portland edged L.A. by getting up a few more shots, getting a few more offensive rebounds, and forcing a couple more turnovers. Five Clippers scored in double-digits tonight but none of them had more than 14 points. In the end a bunch of little mistakes killed the Clips. They spent much of the game getting nibbled to death, making the times they got bowled over even more devastating. It was as good of a way to win as any for the Blazers.

Although other teams in the West have gone to less-orthodox schemes, Portland’s offense thrives on a traditional approach. As currently constituted, this Trail Blazers squad can both bully and outthink opponents in the half-court. It starts on the left side with Roy at the elbow and Aldridge down on the block. If they want to work a mismatch early, they’ll screen for Roy up top. The overarching philosophy is patience: Consider every option. Read the defense and react. A good shot will materialize. It might emanate from the weak side because Roy and/or Aldridge have stretched the defensive rotations. If defenses stay honest on Aldridge and Roy, they can brutalize defenders one-on-one. If the shot attempt doesn’t fall, crash the offensive glass.

On Wednesday night, the Trail Blazers executed all of the above in a 93-85 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. Roy and Aldridge combined for 50 points, and Portland compiled an offensive rebound rate of 29.7 — better than its average of 28.4, good for fourth in the NBA.

Above all, the restoration of order in Portland gives Roy more flexibility to maneuver in the half-court.

“Offensively, I’m able to run off screens and play off the ball a lot more,” said Roy, but not without a disclaimer: “I don’t know if it’s better, but it’s something I’m adjusting to and trying to improve on.”

I’ve never been bashful about stating my admiration for Roy’s offensive game. His body control around the rim is second to none. His midrange game is deadly, and he’s a mismatch in either size or quickness (usually both) for opposing players. But what most impresses me about Roy is his silent nature in which he controls the game. Roy rarely acts out, rarely demands the ball and demeans teammates, and is often willing to take a backseat to another Blazer if there is a better matchup on the floor.

Roy demonstrates his unselfishness early on tonight by deferring to LaMarcus Aldridge for much of the first half, and the Blazers carry a four point lead into halftime. With playoff positioning on the line in a tight game, Brandon Roy comes out in the second half and does what any real star should: He absolutely takes over the game.

The Clippers take weird shots, they take chances, they’re super-talented, and Portland has issues defensively. So the Blazers couldn’t totally put the Clippers away on Wednesday night, and I have no problem with that.

Actually, I’d like to thank the Clippers for playing as hard as they did, even if they didn’t come through with the smartest game I’ve ever seen.

Portland can really put points on the board, though, and LaMarcus Aldridge just seemed to tower over everyone in this win. 27 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers for LMA, who played fantastic, and who is apparently quite good at driving a black SUV around Portland.

What’s hard to figure is how Camby could go from one team dealing with too many injuries to another but gain so many games in the standings.

“That’s a tough question to answer. I’ve been on both sides of the table. Those guys in L.A. I know they worked extremely hard,” Camby said. “I was right there with them, despite our record, despite guys going down, guys were still putting in the effort.

“In Portland’s situation, I think maybe they were more used to playing without [Greg] Oden, to playing without Brandon [Roy] and [Nicolas] Batum and also the head coach [Nate McMillan] has a torn Achilles. So they’ve been dealing with a lot of adversity up here.

“It’s also because up here, the Trail Blazers are the toast of the town, there’s really no other [pro] sports teams to focus on, so the crowd and the environment here at the arena gives those guys a big, big advantage.”

As he approaches the end of the regular season, and the end of his contract, Marcus Camby is a man with options and suitors. A lot of them.

“It feels good to be wanted,” Camby said Wednesday before his first game against the Clippers since being traded Feb. 17.

“Seems like every arena I go in, people are talking about what I’m going to do on July 1. I know a lot of that talk has been coming out of the New York papers and from their writers.

“I would love to finish my career in Portland. The city has been great to me, the organization has been great to me. My teammates are good. I know why I was brought there, because of the injuries to the other bigs, [Greg] Oden and [Joel] Przybilla, so I have to factor that into my decision. But it’s nice to have options.”